


growing pains

by geekbaits



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Childhood Friends, F/M, MaKorra, Slight Korrasami
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 02:38:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10732413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geekbaits/pseuds/geekbaits
Summary: Snapshots of Mako and Korra growing up together AU.





	growing pains

**Five and Six**

They are five and six when they first meet. Mako’s mother takes him to a small Mom and Pop shop at the end of the street. When he asked his mother where they were going, she merely tightened her grip around Mako’s little hand and replied cryptically, “We’re gonna meet some new friends.”

His face scrunched up in confusion, but he didn’t any say anything else. After all, if Mommy was saying that it was okay, then why shouldn’t it be? Mako liked the chiming of the bells when they pushed the door open. The first thing Mako noticed were the fur pelts, embroidered with shimmering silvers and blues, proudly hung up on the walls of the store; he remembered that Daddy liked using these fur pelts during the winter since they were really _really_ warm.

The shelves were scarcely stocked with canned goods, all of which Mako had never even heard of before. Sea prunes? _Arctic hen_? Mako didn’t even know that you could have canned arctic hen! He drifted closer to his mother and clutched her skirt, silently cataloguing  everything he saw. He felt her warm fingers gently twisting into his dark hair.

“What do you think of it, darling?” Mako’s mother asked. The young boy tore his amber gaze away from the unimpressive can display and looked back up at his mother. He shrugged, “It’s alright, I guess.”

She laughed, “It’s alright, Mako, we’re just here to grab a few things and say hello.”

“Say hello to who?” Mako got his answer a lot faster than he thought.

“Hi!” piped up a little voice on his left, from behind the cash register. Mako turned and saw a little girl with dark hair and blue eyes seated on a stool behind a glass counter. She smiled sweetly and his mother and gave a little wave, “Hi, Naoki! Did you come back for some more ocean kumquats? Mommy just came in with a new batch.”

“Actually, Korra, that’s exactly why we stopped by today,” Naoki replied, “Is your mother around?”

The little girl named Korra tapped her chin thoughtfully for a moment before spinning around and hollering through a backdoor behind the counter, “ _Mommy! Naoki’s here!_ ”

When she didn’t receive a reply, she shrugged and turned back around, “She’s back there. You can go in, if ya want.”

Naoki nodded to Korra before turning her attention back to Mako. “Mako, sweetie, this is Korra. Can you play nice with her while Mommy goes in the back for a few minutes? It won’t take very long.”

Mako didn’t really want to be left behind with a stranger, but since his mommy said it’d be okay, he hesitantly agreed. Naoki bent down to kiss the top of Mako’s head before disappearing behind the door, leaving him with the strange little girl named Korra. She grinned widely at him and hopped down from her stool, walking around from to greet Mako properly. Korra stopped and leaned over, carefully regarding him with squinted eyes.

Mako felt self-conscious at once.

“W-What?” he asked defensively.

“Your hair is shaped like a turtle duck’s tail feathers,” she replied rudely. And so the first argument Naoki and Korra’s mother, Senna, caught the pair in was whether or not Mako’s hair was truly shaped like a turtle duck’s tail feathers. Naoki had laughed so loudly that tears beaded at the corners of her eyes because it was the first time she has seen her son, quiet little Mako, red in the face and yelling at someone else so passionately. And it was all about his _hair_.

She expected the pair to become good friends.

**Six and Seven**

Korra was _infuriated_. That big, fat, meanie Mako wasn’t letting her play basketball with him and his friends. He said it was “because she was too little.” They were only _a year apart_ , for crying out loud!

“Bolin, your brother’s a no-good, stick in the mud.”

Mako’s little brother, Bolin, peered up from his coloring book to look at Korra, her bottom lip still jutted out adorably. He grinned at his friend, his tongue poking out between the gap between his two front teeth.

(Bolin had lost a tooth the week before and had quickly developed this gesture as a habit.)

“Nah, Mako’s just a sore loser,” Bolin chirped happily. The boys’ new pet, Pabu the Fire Ferret, chittered gleefully on Korra’s side, almost as if he were _agreeing_ with Bolin. “He think’s you don’t know how to handle the ball. He does the same thing to me all the time.”

“And you don’t say anything?!” Korra snapped, “That’s _crazy_! Bo, get up. We’re going.”

“Where?”

“We’re gonna play some ball.”

Bolin felt a bead of sweat roll down his temple; whether it was because it was hot as blazes outside or because he was growing exasperated, he couldn’t tell. But Bolin knew one thing for sure: Mako had a storm headed towards him.

Korra clasped her fingers around Bolin’s wrist, yanked him up, and marched with the 5-year-old in tow. Her brows drew together in determination as her blue eyes settled on the 7-year-old shooting a basket.

“Hey, Cool Guy! We’re playing with you.”

“Not gonna happen, Korra!” Mako answered, the know-it-all tone of his voice provoking a fresh wave of indignation to wash over little Korra. She scowled and released Bolin, running over to his older brother. Mako didn’t even see it coming.

One second, he had the ball and the next, it was gone and flung into the basket _from the three point line_ by Korra. He frowned at the annoyingly triumphant grin on her face; his friends slowly backed off the court to stand by Bolin, who was preoccupied by braiding a flower crown in the grass.

Korra retrieved the ball and roughly chucked it into Mako’s waiting hands.

He glared.

“You wanna play? Fine. Let’s play. If you win, you guys can join us. If I win, then you have to _leave us alone_.”

“You’re on, Cool Guy,” Korra shouted arrogantly, her vibrant blue eyes blazing brightly under the summer sun, “And don’t think just because I’m little that I can’t beat you. I’m not going easy on you!”

“Neither am I.”

The game ended up in a draw, with Mako actually struggling to keep up with Korra. That girl was a four foot tall _maelstrom_ on the court, not that he’d actually tell her that.

It might boost her ego.

Mako did decide, however, that she actually wasn’t bad and that _maybe_ the next time the boys got together to play some ball, he’d actually invite her over.

Maybe.

(He actually picked her for his team every time after that. Korra was happy.)

**Seven and Eight**

“Hey Mako, wanna hear a joke?”

“Not really.”

Seven-year-old Korra’s bottom lip quivered and her brows furrowed into yet another one of those _pouts_ that Mako _hated._ He hated it because whenever Korra had that look on her face and if his mom saw Korra looking so _pathetic_ , she’d think that he did something and then he’d get in trouble, and that really wasn’t something he wanted to deal with.

“ _Mako, you have something on your shirt_?” Korra shouted and pointed to a spot on his chest. Her sudden movement sent Mako in a panic and he jumped, his heart sprinting against his chest.  

“W-Where?! Where?!” He looked down, but only felt the sting of Korra’s finger flicking his nose. _Of course_. Mako frowned at the girl and reached up to rub against  the reddening tip of his nose.

“Right there, Mako!” Korra laughed meanly in his face, her giggles growing louder at the embarrassed and angry flush that crossed his cheeks. Mako spluttered angrily.

“ _Korra_!” he yelled, “I’m gonna get you!”

“You’re gonna have to catch me first, Cool Guy!”

**Nine and Ten**

“Korra, I am not playing Pai Sho with you. You always cheat!”

“I do not!” the 9-year-old sniffed indignantly. The pair sat outside Mako’s house one summer afternoon; Korra cheerfully set up the small Pai Sho table Mako’s father had built him for his birthday a few days ago. Korra insisted that she be the one that he play with first, and he had no choice but to agree to it. Korra set the last piece down on the table and grinned widely, her tongue poking out out of the gap between her front teeth. She plopped herself down on the stool and gestured for the birthday boy to join her.

“Loser has to eat an entire bag of super spicy fire gummies. So get yourself ready, Birthday Boy.”

Mako frowned, but accepted the challenge nonetheless; there was no way he was going to chicken out. Especially when Korra was looking so smug.

“You’re on.” Needless to say, Mako lost the game and spent his birthday groaning over the intensity of the dummies’ spice, glaring at Korra, who was cackling like a hyena at that point. She offered him a bottle of water, which he hastily snatched up, “You’re a champ, Mako.”

“You mean a chump?”

“No, cool guy,” Korra replied, sitting next to him on his stoop, “a _champ_. You should have seen how you went at those fire gummies! Like _woah,_ you almost looked like Naga eating.”

“You’re comparing me to a wild animal?” Mako took a swig of his water and swallowed, sighing in relief as the biting sting of the fire gummies dissipated. Korra pouted at Mako’s jab and dug an elbow into his ribs, ignoring the wince of pain that crossed over his face.

“It’s a compliment, City Boy! Take it.”

“Whatever you say, Korra.”

“Exactly.” Mako would end up losing every single game of Pai Sho he played against Korra. Luckily, he was able to build up an immunity to the spicy fire gummies, so that punishment wasn’t as bad as it had been the first time.

**Twelve and Thirteen**

“What are you doing?! _You’re_ supposed to defend while _I_ took the ball!”

“What?! I saw an opening, so I took it!”

Naoki’s ears picked up on the sound of Mako’s voice; she frowned, he almost never yelled…unless… _of course_. Setting down the scarf she was knitting in the front sun room, she slowly approached the window and pulled the curtain back. The neighborhood kids were playing their daily game of soccer in the vacant lot across from Mako and Bolin’s house. She immediately honed in on her son, easily spotting his tall and lanky stature in the crowd.

As expected, he was bickering with Korra.

Mako and Bolin’s mother chuckled before leaving the children to their own devices, rejoining her husband on the loveseat in the sun room. San looked over his newspaper, one thick brow raised inquisitively at his wife. She beamed at her husband before bending down to pick up her knitting.

“Mako and Korra bickering again?” he asked, a knowing twinkle gleaming in his emerald eyes. Naoki nodded happily.

“You know, honey, there’s typically a running theme with two people bickering all the time.”

“Sweetie, they’re just kids. You don’t really think—“

“I do.”

San saw the warmth radiating from his wife and sighed in resignation; he flipped to another page in his newspaper and recrossed his ankles, “Whatever you say, dear.”

Mako returned to the house, enraged and covered in mud with a laughing Bolin not too far behind him. When his parents asked him what happened, he cryptically answered, “Girls are crazy!” before storming upstairs to the bathroom. As expected, Korra stopped by half an hour later to play some Pai Sho and, as expected, Mako came out to lose another game.

The two made up over a half eaten bag of fire gummies.

**Fifteen and Sixteen**

“What’s this about synchronized swimming, Mako?” Korra asked; her and Mako sat in their usual spot in front of the giant fountain in the park. Spring was in full bloom and already cherry blossoms were falling from the trees. Mako grimaced and hastily shook some out of his hair before replying slowly, “…I told Toza I would…join…the synchronized swimming team…”

He absolutely hated when Korra got that mischievous gleam in her eyes. Her lip curled up wickedly as she scooted closer to Mako.

“ _Synchronized swimming?_ As in _water ballet_ , Mako?” she asked. Mako flushed darkly at Korra’s boisterous laughter; she was attracting unwanted attention and this really wasn’t something he wanted to discuss in the middle of the public park.

“I don’t wanna talk about it, Korra,” he grumbled miserably.

Korra pouted and wrapped her arms around Mako’s and, ignoring his embarrassed blush, she leaned her head against his shoulder, “But I do! I need to know when to make signs and junk.”

He scoffed, “Signs? For what?”

“For your dumb water ballet routine, Cool Guy!” she replied enthusiastically, “No friend of mine will become a water ballerina without my support!”

“And by support you mean embarrassing me?” Mako deadpanned, sending Korra into another fit of uncontrollable laughter. She recovered a little more quickly this time around.

“Oh Mako, you don’t need my help to be an embarrassment.”

Mako twitched, suddenly wanting to toss his obnoxious friend into the fountain behind him, but judging by how tightly she was clinging to his arm, Mako figured that she’d–

“You toss me in and you’re coming in with me too, bud.”

His lips curved upwards and he leaned a little closer to his best friend, breathing in the fragrance of her hair. It smelled of fire lilies, the sea, and Korra, one of the most comforting smells he knew, but Mako wasn’t going to let her know that.

At least, not today.

**Seventeen and Eighteen**

“You and Asami Sato?”

The young teens sat at their usual place on Mako’s stoop, finishing up another game of Pai Sho, which Mako lost. Korra sighed dreamily and nodded, “Yeah, she’s amazing. I didn’t even think she was interested until she asked me out during gym. Took me totally by surprise too.”

“I’d bet,” Mako agreed, “You’d have to be pretty surprised to get clocked by a power disk?”

Korra flushed darkly and leaned back from Mako, “ _Who told you that_?!”

“Bolin may or may not have been recording it from the weight rooms…it was a momentous occasion.”

“Me being asked out on a date or getting hit with a power disk?”

“Both.”

“One of these days,” Korra promised, “someone’s gonna do the same thing, and when you get decked in the face with some unidentified foreign object, I’ll be right there—“ she produced her camera phone from her back pocket and pressed it against Mako’s face, “ _Right. There._ Recording everything so that I can show your mom and embarrass you into next year and—“

“Korra, you do realize that I can do that with you, right? I actually have footage that I can show to your mom.”

“Yeah! But you won’t  do it.”

“Oh?” he raised a brow, “And why not?”

Korra slid over to Mako’s side and wrapped her arms around his bicep, something he had grown used to her doing, peering up at his unimpressed stare, “Because we’re best friends, that’s why.”

Mako snorted, “That actually gives me more of a reason to do it.”

“But you won’t.”

“But I won’t?”

“You won’t,” she said, with finality and Mako sighed, deciding to let her have this one. After all, getting hit in the face during gym was more than enough for him. Memories of the video Bolin had recorded invaded his memory, prompting a wide smile to stretch across his face. Korra shook Mako’s arm impatiently and he glanced down at the girl; her bottom lip was pushed out in another one of her _pouts_. He rolled his eyes.

“I won’t.”

**Eighteen and Nineteen**

Exactly one year, eight months, and five days into her relationship, Korra and Asami had broken up. One rather ominous text sent to Mako at 2am had him in his car and speeding down Interstate 64 back to Republic City; he had been in Gaoling that week, attending a series of criminology workshops led by his idol, _the_ Lin Beifong of the RCPD. It had been a good week for him, he had managed to stand out among the other attendees and earned not only Lin Beifong’s attention, but her business card as well.

As soon as he graduated, he was to give her a call so that she could enroll him in the world’s top police academy. Mako was most excited to tell Korra of the good news, but he quickly forgot about it upon reading her text.

“It’s over.”

Mako made the 2 hour trip in about half the time, and pulled up in front of Korra’s small apartment right outside of Republic City University’s campus. Jogging up the stairs, he quietly opened the door—since she always left it unlocked, that foolish girl—and slipped inside, totally surprised when he saw Korra watching TV from her couch, curled up beside Naga, her giant polar bear dog.

“I wasn’t expecting this,” she deadpanned.

“Me neither,” Mako replied, striding across the room. He threw himself down in the seat next to her, “You know, when someone texts me ‘it’s over’ at 2am, usually that means they’re in a state of distress or something.”

“I’m fine,” Korra said smoothly, her blue eyes trained on the TV screen, “I just wanted to let you know that we broke up today. A few hours ago, actually.”

“And do you want to tell me why?” Mako thought it was possibly over something stupid; maybe a forgotten anniversary or some trivial dilemma of that sort, but what Korra had said totally caught Mako off guard.

“She didn’t want me hanging around you anymore,” Korra admitted quietly.

Hanging out? Them? Mako couldn’t really see how it was such a problem. Asami had been so nice to him on the few occasions that they had crossed paths and she seemed to adore Korra, which was always a good thing, so what was it about him that made their relationship go sour? He admitted to himself that his course load had kept him busy over the past few months, so perhaps there was quite a bit he had missed out on. He swallowed and turned away from Korra, amber eyes focused on the TV.

“ _Why_?” Mako croaked.

Korra paused for a moment, almost as if she were contemplating on whether or not sharing this was a good idea, before truthfully answering, “She’s jealous.”

“Yeah, that much is obvious, but why is she so jealous?” Mako asked, “You guys were so great together.”

“Were being the keyword here,” Korra replied, somewhat bitterly, “I didn’t like how she never wanted me to see you. Like, even in the beginning when we first started going out, she never wanted me to go play Pai Sho with you or anything like that. It just got to the point where she wouldn’t talk to me for days whenever I did go to hang with you, and I guess I just got tired of it.”

Mako could understand that much, but he couldn’t help but feel bad. After all, he hadn’t seen Korra happier when she was dating Asami. Something within the college student urged him to try and persuade Korra to try to make amends, but…

“No, Mako,” Korra replied, seeming to have read his thoughts before he even voiced them, “This has been an ongoing thing for over a year. Me and you—we are a _package deal_. As much as I want to have her in my life, I _need_ you here with me.”

The sincerity in Korra’s tone sent a wave of heat into Mako’s cheeks. She always caught him off guard with comments like that. Nervously, he rubbed the back of his neck, cursing his sudden shyness.

“You do?” he grumbled. Korra rolled her eyes and bumped her shoulder against his, “Yeah, cool guy! You’re my best friend.”

He hated the way his face would warm at Korra’s nonchalant admission, but she wasn’t lying.

She was his best friend.

**Nineteen and Twenty**

“Happy Birthday, Mako!”

“You can’t say that unless you beat me.”

“C’mob Mako, you’re being ridiculous.”

Korra knew that Mako typically didn’t like to celebrate his birthday, so they decided to settle the ongoing dispute of whether or not they should celebrate the way they had before: an old fashioned shootout on the court. Korra didn’t know why Mako bothered challenging her; everybody and their mother knew that she had him beat.

Her impressive freethrow record was what got her her full-ride scholarship to Republic City University in the first place. (Unfortunately, that still didn’t mean shit to Mako. The boy was determined to _not_ celebrate his birthday. What a baby.)

She crossed over the court to where Mako was, grumpily dribbling the basketball between his legs. Wordlessly, she reached out and stole the ball from Mako, easily tossing it into the hoop with a smooth _whoosh_. He scowled at his best friend, wiped the sweat beading at his temples, and yanked his shirt up over his head, tossing it off to the side.

Korra found herself admiring the hard muscles he had accumulated from years of MMA and hard workouts. She knew that her best friend was ripped, but to _see it_? _Damn_. This didn’t happen often, so when it did, which has been a handful of times during the summer months (and the occasional tournament Korra went to), she would _stare_.

Korra wasn’t blind; she knew Mako could get it. Her best friend was hot, even if his attitude was sometimes rotten, like today.

However, today was different. Korra didn’t really know what it was, but she could tell by how her heart was already running a marathon despite not moving an inch or how all the blood in her body seemed to flood to her face. Her heart gave an unexpected jolt when she felt Mako’s golden eyes, bright under the glare of the blazing July sun, turn up on her heaving form.

“You’re gonna lose today, Korra,” he promised. Korra shook it off and roughly tossed the ball at Mako, smirking at the grunt he made when it rammed right into his stomach.

“We’ll see.”

As expected, Mako lost the game and was forced to suck it up as Korra dragged him around town, making him sit through an especially embarrassing chorus of “Happy Birthday!” sung by the waiters at his favorite tea shop. He wanted to go outside to lay in the street, but Korra’s fingers firmly braided against his own kept him rooted in that spot.

“Korra, can we go somewhere else that isn’t humiliating?” he whined as they crossed the campus back to Korra’s apartment.

“We are, Mako! Now, suck it up!”

Korra quickly unlocked her door and pushed it open, gesturing for Mako to go inside first. Carefully, he crossed over into the dark room.

“ _Happy Birthday_!” he jumped back against Korra’s body, his eyes narrowing at the feeling of Korra’s warm hands wrapping around his own. Right before the lights cut on, he felt his best friend whisper quietly into his ear, “Happy Birthday, Mako.” before pressing a warm kiss against his cheek.

Everybody thought the flush on Mako’s cheeks when the lights came on where due to his embarrassment of being put on the spot, but he knew better and so did Korra. He grinned nervously down at the girl and she laughed, pulling him into her kitchen where he could receive his birthday greetings from his friends and family.

It was a good day.

**Twenty and Twenty-one**

Korra felt funny around Mako.

She had managed to patch things up with Asami after their fall out, but both accepted the fact that they couldn’t work. Not with Asami going to the Fire Nation for her master’s program and Korra spending so much time with Mako. Nonetheless, Asami was still Korra’s go-to confidante when Mako wasn’t around.

Or at least when Korra wanted to talk to someone about Mako who wasn’t Mako.

“What do you mean ‘you feel funny?’” Asami asked one spring afternoon.

The two girls were catching up over lunch at the new Air Nation restaurant downtown. Korra shrugged and prodded at her fruit pie pensively.

“I feel funny as in I feel kind of…nervous? I feel nervous around him, which is weird because I hadn’t really felt that way before.”

Korra watched her friend’s lips curl up into a small wicked smile. Asami tossed her long mane over her shoulder and leaned forward, “Korra, you really don’t know?”

“Don’t know what?”

“You _like_ Mako.”

Korra thought about it for a second. _Her_ like _Mako_? There’s absolutely no way, unless she had missed something this whole time. Korra wasn’t an idiot; she knew what it felt like to like somebody. She was in a relationship with Asami for crying out loud!

But did she like Mako? Her best friend, Mako? Korra wasn’t too sure about it.

“You really think so?”

“Well, just think about it. Can you imagine yourself with anybody else or him with someone else?”

Mako didn’t date.

Korra knew this much about him, but if he were to get a girlfriend–or boyfriend, since Bo was still betting on Mako getting with that annoying kid Wu from her sociology class–how would she feel?

 _Ouch_.

Unsurprised by this very brief reaction, Korra sighed in exasperation and resigned herself to her fate.

“I guess you’re right.”

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Asami replied cheerfully, reaching over to pat her friend on her shoulder, “It’s pretty obvious that Mako feels the same way too.”

“ _It is?!_ Wait, he does?”

It was one of the many times Korra was glad that she and Asami stayed friends. After all, who else would give her a play-by-play of her best friend’s not-so-subtle signs of being interested in Korra? Regardless, Korra decided that something had to be done about it.

**Twenty-one and twenty-two**

Mako didn’t think this would happen at all, but he was sure as hell glad that it did. He had just finished his homework when Korra blew open his door, flew across the room and flung herself in his arms.

He ignored his sprinting heart.

“Korra?” he asked, awkwardly wrapping his arms around her smaller frame, “What’s wrong? Did the Rabiroos lose the tournament?”

“No, they’re still in,” she answered, her voice muffled by the material of his shirt.

He rubbed her back soothingly, “Then what is it?”

When Korra didn’t answer, Mako moved his hands to her shoulders and pushed her back, his brows furrowing instantly at the worry he saw in the blue depths.

“Korra, I won’t know if you won’t tell me.”

Her eyes flicked to his for a second before they dropped down to his lips; Mako felt his breath hitch and that was really all he could remember before Korra leaned forward, clumsily smashing her lips against his. He was surprised at the suddenness of the action, but quickly recovered, returning Korra’s affections almost instantly.

When they broke apart, Korra cupped Mako’s face in her hands before blurting out, “Look, I really like you and I think we were meant for each other!”

Mako really couldn’t help the laughter that had risen to his lips. Between the adorably disheveled appearance of his best friend and his own giddiness at her admission, Mako’s mood had improved instantaneously. He chuckled lowly in between the kisses he left on her forehead, her eyelids, cheeks and lips.

“I think so too.”


End file.
